A vulnerability in the Cisco IOS XE ROM Monitor (ROMMON) Software for Cisco 4000 Series Integrated Services Routers, Cisco ASR 920 Series Aggregation Services Routers, Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers, and Cisco cBR-8 Converged Broadband Routers could allow an unauthenticated, physical attacker to break the chain of trust and load a compromised software image on an affected device. The vulnerability is due to the presence of a debugging configuration option in the affected software. An attacker could exploit this vulnerability by connecting to an affected device through the console, forcing the device into ROMMON mode, and writing a malicious pattern using that specific option on the device. A successful exploit could allow the attacker to break the chain of trust and load a compromised software image on the affected device. A compromised software image is any software image that has not been digitally signed by Cisco.
This vulnerability carries a MEDIUM severity rating with a CVSS v3.1 score of 6.8, with relatively low complexity without requiring user interaction and does not require pre-existing privileges . The vulnerability impacts confidentiality (data exposure), integrity (unauthorized modifications), and availability (service disruption) for affected systems. Impacting 26 products from cisco, from cisco, from cisco and 23 others, organizations running these solutions should prioritize assessment and patching.
Reported in 2020, this vulnerability emerged during an era marked by increased sophistication in supply chain attacks, cloud infrastructure vulnerabilities, and software-as-a-service (SaaS) security challenges. Security practices during this period emphasized zero-trust architectures, container security, and API protection.
2020-09-24T18:15:21.620
2024-11-21T05:31:14.970
Modified
CVSSv3.1: 6.8 (MEDIUM)
AV:L/AC:M/Au:N/C:C/I:C/A:C
3.4
10.0
| Type | Vendor | Product | Version/Range | Vulnerable? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operating System | cisco | ios_xe_rom_monitor | < 16.2\(1r\) | Yes |
| Hardware | cisco | 4221_integrated_services_router | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | 4331_integrated_services_router | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | 4431_integrated_services_router | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | 4461_integrated_services_router | - | No |
| Operating System | cisco | ios_xe_rom_monitor | < 15.6\(18r\) | Yes |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-10sz-pd | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-12cz-a | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-12cz-d | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-12sz-a | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-12sz-d | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-20sz-m | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-24sz-im | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-24sz-m | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-24tz-m | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-4sz-a | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr-920-4sz-d | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr_920u-12sz-im | - | No |
| Operating System | cisco | ios_xe_rom_monitor | < 16.2\(1r\) | Yes |
| Hardware | cisco | asr_1000-x | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr_1001 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr_1001-x | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr_1002 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr_1002-x | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr_1004 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr_1006 | - | No |
| Hardware | cisco | asr_1013 | - | No |
| Operating System | cisco | ios_xe_rom_monitor | < 16.4\(1r\)s | Yes |
| Hardware | cisco | cbr8 | - | No |
SecUtils normalizes and enriches National Vulnerability Database (NVD) records by standardizing vendor and product identifiers, aggregating vulnerability metadata from both NVD and MITRE sources, and providing structured context for security teams. For cisco's affected products, we extract Common Platform Enumeration (CPE) data, Common Weakness Enumeration (CWE) classifications, CVSS severity metrics, and reference data to enable rapid vulnerability prioritization and asset correlation. This record contains no exploit code, proof-of-concept instructions, or attack methodologies—only defensive intelligence necessary for patch management, risk assessment, and security operations.